Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea said today it withdrew
an invitation to a U.S. envoy who was seeking the release of an
American sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor because the U.S. flew
B-52 bombers over the Korean peninsula.

Robert King, the State Department’s special envoy on North
Korean human rights, was scheduled to visit North Korea this
weekend to negotiate the release of Kenneth Bae, a tour operator
and Christian missionary who was arrested in a northeastern
North Korean city in November.

The U.S. and South Korea conducted joint military exercises
that included B-52 bombers “in recent days” and “beclouded
the hard-won atmosphere of humanitarian dialogue,” a spokesman
for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, according a statement
issued to the Korean Central News Agency.

“The strategic bombers’ intrusion into the air over the
Korean Peninsula is the most blatant nuclear blackmail against
us and a military threat to us,” the spokesman said, according
to the statement. “It is the most striking manifestation of the
offensive and aggressive nature of the joint military drills.”

The U.S. was “surprised and disappointed” by the
cancellation of King’s visit, Marie Harf, a State Department
spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement before the North
Korean Foreign Ministry’s comment.

“We remain gravely concerned about Mr. Bae’s health and we
continue to urge” North Korean authorities “to grant Mr. Bae
special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds,”
Harf said in an e-mailed statement.